[Random-bits] Another IP dispute with a political ad

[James Love]

Subject: Another IP dispute with a political ad
   Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2000 12:26:42 -0400 (EDT)
  From: Robert Weissman <rob@milan.essential.org>
    To: upd-discuss@venice.essential.org

>From today's Congress Daily:

POLITICS
... As Mattingly's First Ad In Georgia Race Ruffles Some Feathers
   Former GOP Sen. Mack Mattingly, who is facing Sen. Zell
Miller, D-Ga., in the special election to fill the remaining four
years of the late GOP Sen. Paul Coverdell's term, has ruffled
some feathers with his first ad.
   The commercial, which began airing Wednesday, parodies the
popular AFLAC ad that features a duck quacking the name of the
Georgia-based insurance company, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
reported. In Mattingly's ad, the duck repeatedly quacks, "Back
Mack" in exasperation as two people assess their options in the
special election.
   But AFLAC is crying foul, claiming Mattingly borrowed the
image without permission. "We are pleased with the AFLAC duck's
popularity. But the duck is copyrighted. And he sells
supplemental insurance, not campaigns or candidates," an AFLAC
spokeswoman said.
   AFLAC officials would not comment on possible action. However,
the company's CEO, Dan Amos, is a member of Miller's finance
committee. And Miller's campaign was not amused. "What's he going
to steal next?" a Miller spokesman asked. "Coke's polar bears?
Chick-fil-A's cows?"


Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>
Essential Information
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Tel: 1-202-387-8030
Fax: 1-202-234-5176
www.essential.org
-- 
James Love  mailto:love@cptech.org http://www.cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology, P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
voice 1.202.387.8030  fax  1.202.234.5176